YouTube Studio Introduces AI-Powered Video Ideation Tool for Creators

YouTube Studio now lets creators brainstorm video ideas with the help of AI

At its Made on YouTube event on Wednesday, the company announced that creators can now brainstorm ideas for videos with the help of AI right within YouTube Studio. YouTube will also soon start letting creators create AI-generated thumbnails and quickly respond to users with new AI-assisted comments. After beta testing the ability for creators to brainstorm video ideas with the help of AI back in May, the company is officially rolling out the feature to all. To use the feature, creators enter a prompt that helps them brainstorm ideas across specific topics. Ebi Atawodi, YouTube Studio's director of product management, told TechCrunch that the feature draws on a creator's comments and what's trending to give creators a list of video ideas. For instance, a creator may be getting several comments asking for a follow-up video on a certain topic. "When you go into the Inspiration Tab now, instead of having this sort of search box type thing, it's here are 10 ideas to get you started. And then, creators start to riff on that," Atawodi said. For Google, incorporating its own AI into its video platform encourages creators to use its AI tools instead of other popular platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT. In the coming months, once creators get started with an outline, YouTube Studio will suggest a series of AI-generated thumbnails that they can use for the video. If they don't quite like the images that YouTube has created, they can enter a prompt to receive a specific sort of image by using descriptions like "surreal and unexpected" or "minimalist." As for the new AI-assisted comments, YouTube sees the new feature as a way to make it easier for creators to engage with their audiences by quickly responding to comments. The company says the feature recommends replies that are tailored to a creator's style to give them a helpful starting point. The feature is similar to suggested replies on Gmail, as it gives you an option for a quick response. For instance, if a viewer leaves a comment on a creator's video complimenting them, the platform will suggest responding to it with a reply that says "Thank you so much!" "You can have a suggestion that's like 'thanks so much for watching' and the creator can now add an exclamation mark or put in a heart or whatever," Atawodi said. "But you're not starting with that blank canvas and typing it to each person." Considering that coming up with responses to a high volume of comments is time-consuming, YouTube believes that by making it quicker and easier for creators to respond to the viewers, they will be able to reply to more comments than they were previously able to. YouTube will begin testing AI-assisted comment reply suggestions in the coming weeks before rolling out the feature more broadly next year, while AI-generated thumbnails will launch sometime this year.

YouTube will use AI to generate ideas, titles, and even full videos

Artificial intelligence is running rampant across Google's entire product portfolio, and YouTube is adopting some of the company's newest tech in service of helping creators create. On Wednesday, at its Made on YouTube event in New York City, the company announced a series of AI-related features on the platform, including a couple that might change how creators make videos -- and the videos they make. The first feature is the new Inspiration tab in the YouTube Studio app, which YouTube has been testing in a limited way over the last few months. The tab's job is, essentially, to tell you what to make: the AI-powered tool will suggest a concept for a video, provide a title and a thumbnail, and even write an outline and the first few lines of the video for you. YouTube frames it as a helpful brainstorming tool but also acknowledges that you can use it to build out entire projects. And I'm just guessing here, but I'd bet those AI-created ideas are going to be pretty darn good at gaming the YouTube algorithm.